Reader spots bogus ad

TSA wants public to know it's not their posting.

TSA wants public to know it's not their posting.

February 09, 2006|JOSHUA STOWE Tribune Staff Writer

Sandy Hartsell thinks she dodged an identity thief's ploy on Monday. That's when the Walkerton woman dialed a number for a job listed in the Classified section of The Tribune. The man who answered told her she needed to provide credit card information in order to pay for a $69 background check. When she told him she didn't have a card handy, the answer he provided stoked her suspicions. "He said, that's OK, ma'am, it doesn't have to be your charge card, it just has to have a name and an expiration date," she recalled on Wednesday. The listing was for a customer service and data entry position with "airport and homeland security," according to Pati Bauschke, customer service quality improvement manager and stakeholder liaison for the Transportation Safety Administration. The TSA falls under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, she said, adding that it wants people to know that the advertisement was not for one of its jobs. "That was not our ad," she said. "It's so misleading." The advertisement was not for a job with the St. Joseph County Airport Authority either, said Frank Flanagan, the Airport Authority's human resources manager. The job, the advertisement said, was in the South Bend area, and paid $15 to $25 per hour. Hartsell said that's what lured her to check it out. She provided her name and address but wouldn't share any credit card information. Meanwhile, she thinks others may have been less careful. Calls placed over several hours on Wednesday to the number listed in the advertisement yielded only a busy signal. Mary Zenor, classified advertising manager for The Tribune, said the advertisement appeared on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 under "Help Wanted." The Tribune has removed it, said Carol Smith, the paper's advertising director, adding that The Tribune wants consumers to be savvy when checking classified advertisements, since some do require fees. That's why the Classified section contains messages to help readers, Smith said. For instance, on page F1 of Wednesday's Tribune, the following notice ran under the "employment information" heading. "Some advertisements in this classification may require a fee for their services or products," the message said. "It is always wise to investigate before you purchase by calling the Better Business Bureau."